This Is How It Should Be
by Hypnotoad76
Summary: Future fic. A series of moments between Annie and Jeff and spouses and parents, and how it differs from what they experienced as children. Jumps back and forth in time with no definitive chapter order.
1. Chapter 1

_Annie sat at her desk looking over her geography notes. She wished she could listen to some music, but her mother insisted that it interfered with her studying. At least she had finally allowed her to do her school work in her bedroom again (when Annie got an A- on her last report card her mother made her study in the dining room to keep an eye on her until her grades improved.) Her bedroom was her sanctuary, and she liked when she could stay in her room and get away from her mother's critical eye. _

_Annie groaned in frustration when she heard the front door open and her father step into the house. It wasn't her father specifically coming home that made her upset (although that meant he and her mother would probably be fighting at some point). It was him coming home from work that signaled the part of the day she dreaded the most: dinnertime. It would be so much better if she could just eat in her room. But her mother insisted they all eat dinner together as a family. Even when it was just them she had to create this image of the 'ideal family' she had in her head. _

_About a half an hour later she heard her mother yell out "Dinnertime." Annie closed her eyes and silently preyed it would be better tonight before she crept out of her room and went downstairs. She sat down at her usual spot at the table, her parents already seated. They were silently looking down at their plates, concentrating very intently at their food. _

"_How was everyone's day?" Annie asked with false cheeriness. She waited for them to respond, but didn't get anything except for a noncommittal 'fine' from each of them. "Today at school we learned about the Louisiana Purchase. Then in math we had a pop quiz and Susie complained because she said she didn't know there was a test today. And the teacher had to explain to her-." _

"_Did you get an A on the test," her mother said sternly. _

"_Yes. I got an A+," Annie said quietly, since that was the only part of the story her mother cared about. She looked at her father for support, but he was ignoring her as thoroughly as he was ignoring his wife. Completely defeated Annie gave up trying to make conversation and silently ate her dinner. _

_Annie internally cringed at how uncomfortable everything was. The silence was so thick she could cut it with her dinner knife. Every sound made, from silverware scraping the plates to water glasses hitting the table, seemed amplified and intensified. Annie wanted to scream out how horrible this was. But instead she stayed quiet and ate as quickly as she could, desperate to escape the all-consuming quiet that threatened to suffocate her. _

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Annie stood anxiously by the stove before breathing in relief as the front door opened and Jeff walked into the house. "Here," he said as he handed her a can of diced tomatoes.

"Thank you. I thought we had some, but I must have used it and forgot."

"No problem. Although next time can you try and text me before I practically pull into the driveway."

"Okay," she said in an apologetic tone.

Jeff chuckled and kissed his wife before going upstairs to change out of his suit. Annie opened the can and poured the tomatoes into the pan, stirring them with the diced chicken before Jeff returned. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"I've got this covered. But you can make a salad."

"K."

As she stirred their dinner Annie covertly watched Jeff as he shredded lettuce and cut up vegetables. Where there were many attractive physical features that he possessed, Annie's favorite physical part of Jeff were his hands. Of all his physical features they truly revealed who he was at his core. When one first saw them it was easy to be intimidated. They were gigantic, making hers seem tiny and fragile. When he held her she was well aware of how much of his true strength he was holding back. Just from seeing him punch a punching bag at the gym she knew how powerful those hands of his were, and the damage they were capable of. She was well aware that attached to someone else's wrists, those hands could be terrible weapons used to cause great harm.

But while they were indeed powerful, Annie had never once been fearful of Jeff using his hands for harm. Even in their most heated arguments, Annie knew Jeff would never harm either her or their children with his hands (even if during the early years of their relationship and being parents he feared he might be pushed to use his hands the same way his own father had used his hands to harm Jeff and his mother). He was a good man, and would never raise his hands to harm anyone he loved.

And despite how big they were, Annie had seen how gentle those hands could be. They held onto her and moved over her body with such tenderness. His hands had held their son and daughter when they were newborns so carefully and softly. He had used them to wipe snot from their kid's noses, play tea party with their daughter, direct army men over imagery battlefields with their son. Those were the hands that helped her clean their home, fixed the leaky sink, and did things to her in the bedroom that still caused her to blush. They were conduits for all the good he possessed, and the perfect metaphor for who he truly was at his core.

She smiled as she watched him work, with Jeff looking up and smiling back at her. No words were exchanged as they worked at their tasks, both of them fine with the warm silence they filled the room. When everything was ready they put the food on the table and sat down.

"Where are Hazel and Zack?" Jeff asked as he noticed the table was only set for two.

"Hazel is at flute practice, and Zack is having dinner at Justin's house. So it's just us tonight."

"That's fine. How was your day?" Jeff asked as he served himself and Annie.

"Not too bad. They brought in this one body that they thought was a dog attack, but the bite marks didn't match up with canine teeth. I'll probably have to stay late tomorrow analyzing the wounds. How's the O' Doyle case going?"

"Same as it has been," Jeff said. "I keep hoping the defense will agree to a plea bargain, but they're pushing for it to go to trial. Giving the nature of his crime it would be much smarter if they settle out of court.

They talked some more about things, but it wasn't long before they settled into a comfortable silence as they ate their meal. The only sounds made were normal dinner sounds, such as forks hitting plates and liquid being drunk. Each sound made sounded like a soothing percussion instead of a forceful invasion.

Annie looked up at Jeff as he ate his dinner, feeling a bubbly feeling in her stomach as she watched him. Unlike when she was younger, here she didn't have to force conversation to avoid the all-consuming dreaded silence. With Jeff, they only spoke when they wanted to. Otherwise, they were content to enjoy just being with each other. With Jeff, silence was no longer something to fear.

Jeff glanced up, noticing Annie looking at him. "What?"

"Nothing. Just, I love you Jeff."

"I love you to Annie."

Annie smiled as she went back to her dinner. There really wasn't any reason to explain her exact reason for being happy. They knew where they stood with each other. Instead, they would just sit there, and fully enjoy being in each other's company.


	2. Chapter 2

_Little Annie groaned in annoyance as she colored in her coloring book, pausing every so often to look at the clock on the mantle. She wished she knew how to tell time so she'd know how much longer she had to wait until Mommy came to pick her up. She was bored spending all day at her babysitters. The lady spend the whole day watching boring 'soap operas' on television (Annie didn't understand why they were called that when she never saw any soap on them). Annie liked it when she went to school and only was at her sitter's for a little while in the afternoon. But it was winter break, and she had off from school for the week. And all of her friends in kindergarten didn't live in her neighborhood, so she had no one to play with during the day. _

_Annie looked out the front window as she saw her mom's car pull into the driveway. She quickly packed up her crayons and toys, feeling very gleeful that Mommy was finally back from work. She waited as her mom came in and talked to Ms. Corbet before it was finally time to go. _

"_Come on Annie, get in the car," her mother said in a tired voice. _

"_Can we play hide and go seek?"_

"_Annie, I'm tired. I just want to rest when we get home." _

_Annie moaned in disappointment as she got in the back seat and buckled up. She waited until mommy pulled out of Ms. Corbet's driveway and started driving home before asking, "Can we play freeze tag when we get home?" _

"_Annie, Mommy had a long day. I just want to relax, all right." _

"_Can we play tea party? That's just sitting and drinking tea," Annie said hopefully. _

"_Annie, no." _

_Annie sat there in the back before a great idea came to her. "I can put on a dance show and you can watch?" _

"_No Annie, I just want to lie down when we get home." _

"_But Mommy-." _

"_Annie, can you stop being difficult!" her mother yelled at her._

"_I just want to play," Annie said sadly. _

"_Well I just want to relax after a difficult day at work. And I'm the grown up, so that's what I'm going to do. You can play by yourself when we get home, but do it quietly. Understand." _

"_Yes," Annie said in a small voice, knowing from her mother's tone that she'd be in real trouble if she said anything else. _

_When they got home Annie's mom went to her room and closed the door, leaving little Annie by herself. She cried as she went to her own room and started playing with her stuffed animals. All she wanted was to play with Mommy. She had waited all day for Mommy to come home from her job so they could play. But her mom didn't want to play with her. All Mommy wanted to do was to spend time by herself. _

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Annie yawned loudly as she drove home. It was times like this she wished she worked a later shift. But she had purposely taken the 7am-3pm shift so she could see Hazel and Zackary in the afternoon. Being able to spend time with her children was worth the loss of a little sleep.

Annie pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. _We really need to do something about the bushes in the front_, Annie thought as she walked up to the house. They were so bushy that they were starting to become tangled together.

"Mommy!" she heard as she opened the door. She smiled as Zack ran towards her and hugged her tightly. She bent down and scooped up the smiling four year old.

"Hey. How's Mommy's little boy doing?"

"Great!"

"Hi Mommy!" Hazel said as she also ran forward.

"Hi Hazel." Annie smiled at the six year old before looking at their sitter, Ms. Kensington. "Hi Martha."

"Hello Anne."

"How were the kids?" she asked.

"Oh, they were little angels, like always. I wish my children had been that well behaved when they were growing up. I'll see you two tomorrow," she said as she hugged the two kids before setting on her way.

"Mommy, can we go to the park?" Hazel asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Park, park!" Zack said excitedly.

Annie tried to hide another yawn as she thought about it. After today she was tired, and would like to liedown and relax. But as she looked down at her children's hopeful faces, she didn't have the heart to tell them no.

"Yes, we can do to the park. Let me just change and then we'll go."

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"Okay, you have to the count of ten before I come get you. One, two…"

Annie counted as she held her hands over her eyes, while keeping her fingers opened slightly so she could keep an eye on Hazel and Zack while they hid. She smiled as she saw Zack tuck himself into a ball and hide behind a tree. With his bright orange jacket he stood out prominently despite his best hiding efforts.

"Eight, nine, ten. Ready or not, here I come!"

She dramatically skulked forward, looking around as if she had no idea where her children were. "Where's Zack? Where's Hazel?" She smiled as she walked past a bush and heard her daughter giggling. "Oh no. I can't find Hazel anywhere. Maybe she went to live with a family of bears. I'll just have to keep looking for her."

Hazel giggled as she saw Mommy's feet move away from the bush she was hiding under. She then crawled back in surprise as her mom bend down and stuck her face in the bush. "Got you."

"You have to catch me first." She tried crawling out from the bush, but wasn't fast enough as her mom grabbed the back of her shirt."

"There, you're caught. Now let's find your brother."

They both looked around the park (with Annie not revealing that she already knew where Zack was hiding) before Hazel yelled "I found him. I win."

"I hid longer. I win," Zack yelled.

"No one wins in hide and seek," Annie told them. "It's just a game you play for fun."

"Can we play choo choo train!" Zack asked.

"Okay, sure. I'll be the engine and you two are the cars behind me." Annie got on her hands and knees, ignoring that she would probably have grass stains on the knees of her jeans before the day was over. She waited until Hazel grabbed hold of her ankles and Zack grabbed hold of Hazel's ankles. "Okay everyone, where should the Winger family train go today?"

"Australia!" Hazel yelled.

"Okay, Australia it is. All aboard! And we're off!" Annie yelled as she crawled forward, going slow enough so her kids could keep up. "Look at all the wonderful sights as we speed through the Australian planes. Oh look, off into the distance, there's a koala bear. And over there is a family of kangaroos."

"I wanna see rhinos!" Zack yelled.

"Oh look, a rhino has unexpectedly turned up in Australia," Annie quickly said, glad her days of living with Troy and Abed taught her how to quickly improvise. "He's very confused since he's not in Africa."

They played choo choo train for a while longer, during which they traveled out of Australia and went to Africa to bring the wayward rhino home, and then went to Egypt to see the pyramids. Finally Annie stopped and got to her feet. "Okay, that's enough choo choo train for today."

"Can we go on the swings?" Zack asked.

"Okay. We'll go on the swing, but then we have to go home, deal?"

"Deal!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hello," Jeff said as he opened the door. "Annie?"

"Shhh," Hazel said as she ran towards her dad. "Mommy's asleep."

"Mommy's asleep?" Jeff playfully asked as he squatted down and kissed his daughter.

"Yeah. She took us to the park and fell asleep when we got home. So we have to be quiet."

"Okay, I'll be quiet. Where's your brother?"

"In the play room. We're watching _A Bugs Life._"

"Why don't you go back to watching the movie and I'll check on mommy."

"You're not going to wake her up, are you daddy? She was really tired when we got back," Hazel said as her eyes widened with worry.

"I promise I won't wake up Mommy Hazel."

"Cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart," Jeff said seriously as he made an X over his heart. He got up and said hi to Zack before going upstairs to his bedroom, where Annie was fast asleep. She was lying on top of the bed spread, her cheek pillowed into her hands.

Jeff picked up a blanket that was at the foot of the bed and draped it over his wife. He bent down and kissed her lightly on her lips, careful not to wake her up. She stirred slightly, but resumed sleeping. He chuckled before he went to change, trying to decide if he should make spaghetti and meatballs or baked chicken for dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

_Jeff sat on the living room couch, dressed in his little league uniform. Today was a very important game, The Blue Jays vs. The Yellow Jackets. While it wasn't the championship game or anything like that, his team had a fierce rivalry with The Yellow Jackets and any game between both teams was intense. They had trained and practiced for weeks, and now it was time to clean their clocks. _

"_Jeffrey," his mom said as she came down the stairs fiddling with the video camera. "I can never get this darn thing to work." She huffed as she put it in her bag, hoping some technological insight came to her while she was sitting in the stands. "Come on, we've got to get to the ball field." _

"_We can't leave now, dad isn't here." _

_Doreen sighed, hoping to postpone her son the disappointment she knew he was going to be feeling. "Let's just go now, okay." _

"_But dad said he'd come watch me play. He promised." _

"_I know," she said heavily. _

"_Where is he?" Jeff asked. "He wasn't here when I woke up." _

_William Winger wasn't there because he had left last night, storming out after he and Doreen had gotten into yet another fight. Doreen was sure he'd be back soon, (It was how it went. Her husband would leave over some issue and return a few days later.) But she was willing to bet he wouldn't come back in time to see his son play in his ballgame. _

"_Something came up and he had to leave last night. But I'm sure he'll meet us at the diamond in time to see you play," she lied. _

_Jeff nodded his head as he followed his mother outside and got in the car. He knew his dad had a habit of leaving for days on end, even a kid could notice a pattern developing. But his dad had promised he'd see him play at the game. And when you make a promise you had to keep it. _

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"_And next batter up a bat for the Blue Jays, Jeff Winger." _

_Jeff walked up to the plate, his bat by his side. It was the fifth inning, and The Yellow Jackets were up by one point. There were two outs and a kid on third and another on second. If Jeff could get a hit, he could get the kid on third to home and tie the game. Or maybe get both to home and get two points, or even get all three of them to home plate and get his team three points. _

_The pitcher looked at Jeff intently before winding up and throwing the ball. Jeff swung the bat, but missed the ball. _

"_Strike one." _

_Jeff grip on the bat tightened as he took a breath. He blocked out the yelling of the crowd and the butterflies in his stomach as the ball came at him again. He swung, and this time his bat connected. The ball soared far out to the outfield as Jeff took off like a bullet. He made it past first and rounded second, his legs pumping as fast as they could. All the Blue Jay fans yelled and cheered as his feet hit third and he ran for home. He looked up and saw the ball being flung to the catcher. With a burst of speed Jeff dove for home, his hands touching home plate just before the catcher caught the ball. _

_Jeff was pulled to his feet, his team mates ecstatic over their now two point lead. As they slapped his back and congratulated him for his home run Jeff looked out into the stands. His mom was jumping up and down, screaming in joy. But his father was nowhere to be seen. The euphoria of getting three points for his team faded as he realized his father had not only not seen his home run, but had broken his promise and not come to the game. _

_He tried to hide his tears, excusing them by saying he got dirt in his eyes from sliding into home. As he went to the dugout everyone was happy to be ahead of their rival team. But for Jeff, all he could think about was how his dad didn't want to spend time with his son. _

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Jeff quickly organized his paperwork and put it in the appropriate files, continuingly glancing at the clock on his desk. His daughter's recital started in fifteen minutes, and he had to leave right now if he hoped to make it there on time. While he wouldn't miss it either way, Hazel had a flute sole in one of the songs and Jeff was determined to see it. He turned off his computer, tapping his finger impatiently until the shutdown was complete, before grabbing his coat and rushing out of his office.

"Mr. Winger," a colleague called out as Jeff made his way to the elevator. "I need to talk to you about-"

"Terry, I've got my daughter's recital and I'm already late. Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow."

"But I just need to know what to do about-" With that the elevator doors closed in his face, cutting off whatever Terry had to say.

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"Come on!" Jeff yelled as he hit another red light. He seriously considered driving through it when it turned green. Jeff gunned his car and continued his mad dash to his children's elementary school. He looked at the clock, seeing the concert had already started three minutes ago. He pressed down on the gas harder as he sped to the school, hoping he made it on time.

Once he got there and managed to find a parking space Jeff raced into the school, bursting into the auditorium just as the school band finished playing a song. As everyone clapped Jeff looked around until finally finding Annie, who had saved a seat for him.

"Did I miss it?" he asked as he slid into the seat.

"No, they just finished the first song and she didn't play her solo."

Jeff sighed in relief as he looked on stage, seeing Hazel in the second chair of the third row. "I got caught up in things and was late leaving work. I was afraid I'd miss it," he confessed."

"I knew you'd make it," Annie told him with complete confidence as she placed her palm over the back of his hand.

"Hi dad," Zack waved to him from Annie's other side.

"Hey Zack," Jeff happily replied. He put his finger to his lips as the band started up again, telling his son to be quiet

They sat there for two more songs until it was time for the fourth song and last song. The Wingers waited on baited breath until Hazel's solo arrived. They watched her play, knowing how much she had practiced and being proud at seeing her accomplishment. Once the song was over they stood up and cheered, loudly yelling her name as all the kids bowed.

Once the concert was over Jeff, Annie and Zack made their way through the crowd until they finally found Hazel. "Honey, you were great," Annie said as she hugged her daughter.

"Did you see my solo?" she excitedly asked her family.

"We sure did," Annie said.

"You were fantastic," Jeff told her as he hugged his daughter tightly.

"You were really good," Zack said to his sister.

"Thanks. I was really nervous."

"You had nothing to be nervous about," Jeff said. "You were great."

"We mean it," Annie said. "You were good during the winter concert, but you've improved so much in this one. You should be very proud of yourself."

"Can we get ice cream to celebrate Hazel's playing," Zack hopefully asked.

"Sure," Jeff said with a laugh, proud at how his son had manipulated his sister's victory for his own benefit. The Winger family walked out to parking lot, enjoying being together with one another.


End file.
